Key protest leader not on ballot in rebel China village

Mr Yang Semao, who is running for village chief in Wukan, Guangdong province, gestures during an interview with Reuters on March 30, 2014, a day before the election. Voters in a Chinese village that overthrew its Communist Party bosses in landmark elections two years ago went to the polls again on Tuesday, March 31, 2014, but Mr Yang, a key protest leader, was absent from the ballot. -- FILE PHOTO: REUTERS

WUKAN (AFP) - Voters in a Chinese village that overthrew its Communist Party bosses in landmark elections two years ago went to the polls again on Tuesday, but a key protest leader was absent from the ballot.

Yang Semao, a firebrand former protest leader in Wukan, and another candidate were accused of corruption earlier this month by authorities in Lufeng, the city that administers the village.

Residents said Yang had pulled out of the run-off ballot for a slot on the local committee, despite receiving thousands of votes in Monday's write-in poll, when former protester Lin Zuluan was re-elected as village chief.

Wukan, in south China's Guangdong province, grabbed headlines worldwide in 2011 when locals staged huge protests and drove out Communist Party officials they accused of illegal land grabs and the death of a detained local villager.